


Not So Merciless

by thepatronsaintofgrapes



Series: No Heroes Allowed [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew, GTA AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2018-04-18 22:53:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4723313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepatronsaintofgrapes/pseuds/thepatronsaintofgrapes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Mad Mercenary was doing his job right, he was merciless. Nothing had been right with this job. He’d known it from the moment he took it. But that's were he meet Gavin Free, former employee of Geoff Ramsey, leader of the Fake AH crew. Gavin's the only person in Los Santos who isn't afraid of the mercenary. He's also the only one who can save Ryan from the people trying to kill him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When the Mad Mercenary was doing his job right, he was merciless. Nothing had been right with this job. He’d known it from the moment he took it. People do weird things for their own reasons. Hell, he was a mercenary, and he only did because it was the best way to get money he doesn’t need in a city full of corruption.

The leader of the Fake AH crew paid him to take out the CockBytes. He didn’t care why but he was going to do it one way or another.

“I’ll give you fifteen million, take out Burns and his crew,” Geoff instructed. Ryan gave him a confused look, although Geoff couldn’t see it through the skull mask the mercenary wore at all times _. Burnie and Geoff were friends, why would he want him dead?_

“They’ll be gone by the end of the week.” The mercenary got up, shook the man’s hand, and walked out. Geoff followed him, intending to leave the office after he left. Many of Ramsey’s crew lounged in the area outside his office. Some of them weren’t from his crew, but they still hung around his safe house because they were on his payroll. Michael Jones and Ray Narvaez, for example. They were detectives in the LSPD. Ramsey paid them off sometime when his crew got in “sticky” situations. 

That was the difference between the mercenary and his employers. The Mad Mercenary worked alone, where as his employers were leaders of big, well-paying mobs. The mercenary like working, liked being, alone because there was no one stopping him from doing something dangerous or anyone getting in his way.

He walked out of Ramsey’s office, got on to his bike, and rode off into the afternoon sun. He had some planning to do.

\--

Gavin liked looking at the world through a lenses. He wasn’t sure why he liked it so much, but he did. The young British man took picture for the Los Santos Tribune in his spare time. These picture were never anything special until he came face to face with the Mad Mercenary.

The thing about Gavin Free is that he’s afraid of a lot of thing. But in that moment, the mercenary’s gun staring him in the face and his heart pounding, he wasn’t the least bit afraid.

“Hey, you want to get bevs with Ray and Lindsay?” Michael asked him over the phone.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll meet you guys down at Paddy’s in a bit, I’m just getting a few more shots.”

“Okay, see you soon, boi!”

“Bye, Michael,” Gavin replied with a smile. He put his phone into his pocket and grabbed his camera again. He took a few more pictures of what he’d stop to look at before Michael had called, and moved on.

When he finally ended up at Paddy’s Pub, Michael, Lindsay and Ray were waiting for him. As always, Michael was in the middle of telling a story about something cool that happened to him and Ray that day at work. “So the guy started to run, and so I yelled at him and told him to stop. Well, he turns around with a gun and starts shooting at me and- Oh, hey Gav!”

“Hi guys,” he replied to his friend walk over to their table with a smile. The other two greeted him and Michael continued.

“I was just telling Lindsay about this guy Ray and I took down earlier.”

“Epic as always?” Gavin asked.

“Of course.” It was Ray who replied this time. “We’d followed this perp to a warehouse on the east side and-,” he stopped mid- sentence to the sound of an explosion. The four got up from their table and began to run toward the sound, unlike many of the other people in the pub who ran in the opposite direction. Gavin fumbled to get his camera out as he ran.

Bang! The sound of gunfire rang out in the distance. Lindsay, Michael and Ray had their guns drawn as they came around another corner. Bang! Another shot rang out through the streets. The four took cover behind cars parked along the street; Ray and Gavin on one side and Michael and Lindsay on the other side of the street.

Bullets started coming down the street towards them; the hunted were fighting back. Gavin snuck out to the side walk staying behind the cars. “Gav, get back here!” Ray yelled at him. Gavin kept going. Click, his camera went off. Bang! The hunter’s gun. He’d finally crept forward enough to get a look at the hunters face. Click. It was the Mad Mercenary.

The mercenary saw him, then, and started staring him down. His eyes were the only thing Gavin could see of him behind the mask. The mercenary looked back at his last victim, who was still alive, then back at Gavin. He started walking toward him, eyes piercing into his skin.

Gavin got up from his position on the ground. His conscience was telling him to run, but that was the last thing he was going to do. He started backing up, not taking his eyes off the man. His back slammed into the building behind him and his camera fell out of his hands.

The barrel of the Mad Mercenary’s gun jammed into his face and his heart was pounding, but he wasn’t the least bit scared. 

\--

Ryan had been taking Burnie’s crew all week, picking them off one by one. This was his last attack, taking out Burns and his closest employees. He’d tracked them to a safe house they’d been doing business in since he started taking the crew out. Ryan had placed a bomb in the safe house, so that when they returned it would go off, they’d run out, and he’d be waiting in the street from them. He had his plan down to a science.

He wasn’t expecting some idiot with a camera to come along.

The explosion went off, and just as he predicted, the four came running out and stopped in the middle of the street. Bang! One down. The rest began to run. Bang! Two. The last two got smart and turned around, guns blazing. Ryan took cover behind a car waited till the first wave stopped. He stepped out of behind the car. He took aim at one of the two left, and click. Bang! The last one came at him. Ryan dropped his gun and hit the man in the face, knocking him down.

Click. He turned and saw a man crouched behind a car with a camera. Ryan looked back at his last victim and the back at the man. He took out another gun, and started toward the man, who got up and started backing up. They didn’t break eye contact. The man walked into a building, causing him to drop his camera. Ryan pointed his gun at him.

The man wasn’t afraid. Ryan knew he wasn’t afraid, and he wasn’t sure why. Everyone else in Los Santos was, what made this guy any different?

He had a code to up hold; “Leave no witnesses,” but he couldn’t kill him. He couldn’t kill the one person in this city who wasn’t afraid of him. At least he didn’t have to decide for himself.

“Gavin get down!” Ryan heard someone yell. The man broke their stare, and did as he was presumable told. Gunfire began again, aimed toward Ryan. He took off toward the street. His last victim was up and running. He decide to let him go; for once, letting the witnesses live.


	2. Chapter 2

Gavin was alive. He was fine, but he knew he shouldn’t be. Everyone knew that the Mad Mercenary was merciless, so why was he alive. “Gav, are you okay?” Michael asked him.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Lindsay was on her phone talking to someone, and Ray was doing the same thing.

“You’re an idiot, you know that right. You could have gotten yourself killed,” Ray scolded, after he’d gotten done with his call.

“Sorry… I- I wasn’t thinking,” He paused. “I’m gonna head home, if that’s alright.”

“Yeah, go, we have to clean up here anyways.”

He said goodbye to his friend and headed to his apartment. _I should be dead. Why didn’t he kill me?_ Gavin got home and grabbed a bottle of whisky. Gavin wanted to drown his sorrows in a drink to his health. He left the glass behind and drank it straight from the bottle. He walked to his desk, sat down, and turned on his computer. He looked up the Mad Mercenary’s work.

The enigma was intriguing to him. _Why didn’t he kill me? He’s killed everyone else. Why not me?_ _No survivors. No Witnesses._ No one knew who the Mad Mercenary was behind the mask. Of course there were theories, but nothing concrete. And so he drank. And fell asleep. And he woke up the next morning with a headache.

Gavin grabbed his camera to check the damage. It had a crack in the lens and scrapes on the exterior, but other than that it was fine. He took out the memory chip and pulled the pictures up on his computer. He opened his email and attached the pictures from the night before. He sent them to his contact at the LS tribune, with a caption, “from the Mad Mercenary’s attack last night.” He got up from his chair and walked into his bedroom to put on new clothes.

\--

Gavin was still a little out of it from the night before. He was walking to Geoff’s safe house. _Haven’t been here in a while._ No one questioned his presence. Some stared. Some said hello. And then there was Jack. “Gavin? Hey, I haven’t seen you around here in a while.”

“Hey, Jack. Yeah, I’ve been taking some time off. Is Geoff here?”

“He went out with Lindsay. They’re trying to find the mercenary.”

“Do they know who hired him?”

“No, that’s what they are trying to figure out.” Jack paused. “They both have a lot of enemies. Geoff knew him best and even he doesn’t know who would want Burnie and his crew dead.”

“I hope they’re successful in their search. When Geoff gets back, tell him I was looking for him.”

“Will do. See you later, Gav.”

“Bye Jack.” He started walking away.

“Hey Gavin, don’t be a stranger, we need you around here.” Gavin smiled.

“I’ll be around.” As he walked back out Lindsay and Geoff were pulling in. In truth, he didn’t need Geoff. He just needed to get information.

“Hey Gavin, haven’t seen you in a while, how are you doing?”

“Better. I was actually looking for you. I was wondering if you had any jobs.”

“Yeah, actually, we’re going after the Mad Mercenary. You think you could help us with tracking him down?”

“When do we get started?”

\--

He was hoping Geoff would give him the job. He also knew that Geoff, given that he asked, would give him the job. Even if he hadn’t asked, Geoff probably would have asked him to do it because he was the best. He wasn’t working alone, though.

Gavin walked into the office he’d used before. The room had two desks right next to each other, a computer on each. There was a man sitting at one working. He jumped and turned around when Gavin opened the door. They stared at each other for a moment, then Gavin walked over to a spare chair, that was in the room, grabbed it and brought it over to the desk. He sat down and started work, neither of them saying a word.

In his absents, Geoff had brought in a new analyst.  He wasn’t as good as Gavin, but he was learning. “Name,” Gavin said. The man had been watching Gavin work for the past few minutes.

“Jon,” he replied.

“I’m Gavin. Why don’t you get on that computer of yours and help me. We’re hunting the Mad Mercenary.” They talked a little, mainly Gavin navigating Jon through his process, but there was a little small talk. They worked well together. And their work, that usually took Gavin a night, took them mere hours to find _._ The mercenary’s safe house. Gavin copied the address down and went running out of the room to find Geoff and the others. They were cleaning their guns, organizing teams, and getting their armor ready. “We found him.”

“Wow. Ya know, I was hoping to get some sleep tonight.” Geoff turned to his crew, “be ready in ten, we’ll go over the plan then. What you got Gav?”

“We got a warehouse east end of town,” he handed the address to the other man. “I’ll print the specs and meet you in your office.”

“Good work, Gav,” Geoff said with a smile. Gavin walked back to the office. Jon had already done what Gavin had told Geoff he would do.

“Thanks,” Gavin said receiving the papers from him. They started walking toward Geoff’s office.

“You worked here before, right? I’ve heard people talking about you.”

“I did, I left about a year ago.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why?” Gavin hesitated to answer.

“I used to go out with them some times, control things from the field and what not. I slipped up one time, got hurt something gruesome. I was out of it for a while and after that, I don’t know, just didn’t feel it anymore. There’s really no point in what we do.” They were both silent for the rest of their walk. They met Geoff talked over their plan, then Gavin left, and he went out to the mercenary’s safe house. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so this chapter goes back to the end of the first chapter, and kind of over laps the last chapter. But, anyways, thanks for reading this. Have a wonderful day!

Ryan took off his mask a few blocks away, and hid it in his jacket. He returned to his bike that he’d left far enough away that he could lose a tail in the alley ways if he needed to. He rode to his safe house, head still reeling from the events of the past minutes. He’d been too weak to kill the man. Even if he had tried harder, he probably couldn’t killed him. He was to only one who wasn’t scared of him.

He couldn’t sleep that night. Instead, he was awake dissembling, clean and reassembling his guns and sharpening his knives. He’d always found this calming. It was all he’d really ever known. He started doing his job as a kid, taking only small jobs, but it was what you did in Los Santos. He had perfected the art of knife throwing at age nine. He’d learned how to properly shoot a gun at twelve. He was the best sharp shooter in the city by the age of sixteen. He taught himself most of these things. He always tried to stay out of the eye of the media or really everyone. That’s why he had the mask. No one knew who he was, and he wanted to keep it that way.

But he wanted to meet the man. He wanted to know why he wasn’t afraid. He wanted to know how he was so strong to not even flinch at having a gun pushed in his face or the skull mask behind it. He wanted to know how he could stare death in the face and not even care enough to look away.

Ryan quit his mantra, and started putting the weapons away. He went out to his bike and heading toward Geoff’s safe house, not because he had a death wish but because he noticed something he hadn’t before. It was Geoff’s men who had fought against him. So maybe, the man who was forever ingrained in his head worked for him, too. What a shame that would be.

He hid in an abandoned building across the street from the safe house.  And there he was. The man was walking out of the safe house. A car pulled up to the building, Geoff and some of his people men got out of it. Geoff stopped and started talking to the man while the rest of his people men went inside. He couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but he sensed a little nervousness in the man and happiness, or more relief maybe, in Geoff.

 Ryan watched as the two walked into the warehouse together. His suspicions appeared to be true. The man who wasn’t scared did work for Geoff. Ryan let his brain process this with he drove back to his safe house.

\--

Ryan was awoken later that night by an alarm. The alarm belonged to a motion sensor that was positioned outside the hatch door Ryan had, which led into the sewer system that ran below the streets of Los Santos, in case of emergency. Someone was breaking into his safe house.

He put on his mask and grabbed a gun. Ryan saw a man coming into the room he was in. He brought his gun up to the man’s head. The man jumped. “Who the hell are you and why are you here,” Ryan asked.

The man put his hand in the air and turned towards Ryan. It was the same man from the day before. The man he’d let live. “I don’t have enough time to explain everything, but the Fake AH crew is on their way here. If we don’t leave now, they will kill you.”

Ryan cocked his head to one side and gave the man a confused, not that he could see it.  _Why would they want to kill me?_  This didn’t really surprise him, though. Many people had tried to do it before and had not succeeded. And then they were interrupted by gun fire.

He pushed the man out into the hall. “Stay here,” Ryan ordered him as he ran back in. The gun fire had come from two snippers atop an adjacent building. More people came in from a door on the opposite side of the room from Ryan. They started shooting at him, and he took cover behind his desk, which was out of line of the snipers.

He grabbed a grenade out of a drawer in the desk. Ryan then got up from behind the desk and started firing back at the people. He took the pin out of the grenade and threw it at them, as he started running back to the hallway where he’s left he man. The bomb went off as he was about to get through the door way. The force of the bomb pushed him to the wall on the other side, knocking him out.

\--

The Mad Mercenary pushed Gavin out into the hallway. “Stay here.” Well, of course he wasn’t going anywhere.  _I can’t leave you here, but I also can’t let them see me_. Gavin stayed leaning against the wall watching vigorously, hoping the mercenary would come out alive.

He heard gun fire. Then, saw the mercenary come up from behind the desk he was hiding behind, and throw something. The mercenary came running towards Gavin and the hallway. The bomb went off, throwing him. Gavin rushed towards him to make sure he was okay. And he was, just unconscious.

Gavin wrapped his arm around the mercenary’s waist, and the mercenary's arm around his neck. He proceeded back to the hatch door. Gavin carried the mercenary to his apartment. Upon arriving, Gavin laid the mercenary on his bed.

He looked at the skull mask he was wearing. Gavin gripped it around the edge, by the mercenary’s chin, and pulled it off. He placed it on the table next to the bed. He’d finally gotten to see the mercenary’s face. Gavin smiled as he walked out into the living room. Because, well,  _he’s cute._


	4. Chapter 4

When Ryan woke up, he was dazed, and then he was scared. His mask was off, it was sitting on a table beside him, and he didn’t know where he was. Naturally, he went to investigate.

He sat up, grabbed the mask, and put it on. Getting up, he walked to the door, opened it, and slowly walked out. He heard the faint sound of a TV rambling in the background, and walked towards it. There, was a man lying on a couch asleep. It was the man he let live. Ryan smiled under his mask. He sat down in a chair and waited for the man to wake up.  

When he woke up, he looked as if he was about to jump out of his skin. The mercenary staring at him caused this. “Good morning,” he told the mercenary. “You hit your head pretty hard, does it hurt?” The mercenary remained quiet. “I’m Gavin, by the way.” He held out his hand. The mercenary held his stare, not excepting the man’s hand. His hand shrunk back. “Okay, I’m gonna go to the store to get some stuff, you welcome to stay here.” He got up and walked into the bathroom.

Ryan got up after Gavin had gotten out of the room. He went into the bedroom he’d come out of, took his mask off and grabbed his jacket. He walked back into the living room. Gavin was standing by the door putting on his coat. “Mind if I join you?” Ryan asked.

“No not at all,” Gavin replied with a smile.

“My name’s Ryan,” he paused, “by the way.” Their walk was generally quiet, but Gavin’s curiosity got the best of him.

“Can I ask you a question?” Ryan nodded, and he proceeded. “Who hired you to kill Burnie and his crew?” Ryan didn’t answer for a moment.

Gavin was just about to tell him he didn’t have to answer when he spoke. “Geoff.” Gavin stopped walking.

“What? No, he and Burnie are friends.”

“I thought the same but I guess we were both wrong.” They were silent for a while as they began walking again, then they passed a coffee shop. “Hey, you want coffee?” Ryan asked.

“Sure.”

“I’ll catch up with you.”

“Okay”. He kept walking. Gavin got to the store, got what he needed and got out. He still hadn’t seen Ryan. However, he did see Michael.

“Hey, Gav. Are you okay?” Gavin saw Ryan, then, with coffee in both his hands walking towards them.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” And then he didn’t. “Hey, Michael, can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Would Geoff have any reason to want Burnie out of the city, or worse?” Michael gave Gavin a curious look.

“No. They were in the same crew when they originally got into the business. They practically made this city what it is today. It might not survive without both of them running it,” he paused. “Is this about what happened with the Mad Mercenary the other day?”

“No, I- I was just curious. I have to go, I’ll see you later,” he replied and then rushed off.

\--

Ryan had grabbed their coffee and had started walking toward the market. The line had been long, and it had taken him a long time. He stopped seeing Gavin ahead of him. He was talking to one of Geoff’s cops. He started to worry. He’d begun to trust Gavin. He was the first person Ryan had trusted in a long time. _Is he turning me in?_ Ryan didn’t want to stick around to find out. He ran.

He made his way through alley ways, as he’d done many times before. His apartment was only few blocks away. He figured he could hide there for a while. _Or forever._ Ryan entered his apartment, hands empty, having dropped the coffee in a dumpster in an alley on his way. He stopped. Ryan sat on the ground, back against the wall.

He had a problem with not trusting people. He _didn’t_ trust people. But he had trusted Gavin and he wasn’t sure why. Was it because he’d saved his life? _Because I would be dead without him._ But then again, why hadn’t Gavin turned him in when he had the chance? Ryan wanted to trust Gavin. _I don’t know him. I want to know him, but that requires trusting him._

Ryan got up from his position on the wall. He rummaged around his apartment looking are the few weapons he kept there. He grabbed a gun with an extra clip and hid a few knives in his jacket. Ryan changed his clothes and headed out to the parking structure behind the building. He got on his bike to go find Gavin.

\--

Gavin was placing back and forth, through his apartment. He was starting to get worried about Ryan. _Maybe they caught him, or… killed him._ There was a knock on his door, and Gavin walked over to open it. Ryan stood there with a stupid, smug smile on his face. Gavin rolled his eyes at him and pulled him into the house. “What the bloody hell happened to you?” Gavin exclaimed. Ryan’s smile faded.

“I’m sorry. I- I saw you talking with one of the cops who works for Geoff, and- I don’t know. I panicked. I thought you might be turning me into them.”

“No,” Gavin said bewilderedly, shaking his head. “I came to warn you about them, why would you think that?”

“I don’t know. Like I said, I panicked. I guess, at the time, I thought that I couldn’t trust you, but I do now. You saved me from them, Gavin, and I never thank you for that. So, thank you because I’d be dead right now if you hadn’t.”

“Well, we would want that now would we,” he replied, with a smile.

“So, you didn’t know that Geoff hired me to take out CockBytes?” Ryan asked, confused.

“No, I mean I hadn’t talked to him in a while before it happened, but to be honest, I don’t think he told anyone. Michael seemed surprised when I talked to him, and, for what little time I did spend there, no one else seem to know about it either. So either Geoff has a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on or…” Gavin broke off.

“ _Or_ he didn’t want to tell anyone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so, I'll try to post as much as I can. I've bombarded with school work as many have. But, as always, thanks for reading. I hope you have a wonderful day!
> 
> And hey, if you wanna come say hi, my Tumblr is thepatronsaintofwritersandgrapes.tumblr.com


	5. Chapter 5

Ryan spent the night at Gavin’s apartment again, this time taking the couch. However, he didn’t sleep much. He was trying to piece together what had happened the past few days. Eventually, Ryan gave up, grabbed a newspaper from the day before, that was sitting on a coffee table, and began reading it. It was about this time that Gavin got up.

He walked out to his living room, with his messy bedhead, to see if Ryan was up. Which he was. Gavin told him that he was gonna take a shower and then they could go get breakfast. As soon as Gavin left, Ryan went back to reading the paper, which he found had pictures of him. Well, the Mad Mercenary. The photos were from the night they met.

Promptly after finding the photos, there was a knock at the door. Ryan got up to go answer it. “Hey, Gav-” the woman at the door started, stopping when she noticed that the person who opened the door wasn’t Gavin, and started reaching for her gun. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m-” _Who am I?_ “I’m Ryan, I live down the hall. I just moved in, actually. Gavin-”

“Lindsay! Hi, I see you’ve met Ryan,” Gavin said walk in from his bedroom.

“Yeah,” she paused. “Actually, I came to talk to you about business.”

“Right,” Gavin responded. “How’d the other night go?”

“I’m gonna let you two talk,” Ryan budded in. “I’ll meet you down stairs, Gavin.”

“Okay.”

“It was nice meeting you Ryan,” Lindsay added.

“Like wise,” Ryan replied, as he walked out shutting the door behind him.

“It didn’t go well. The Mad Mercenary escaped. Honestly, it looked like he knew we were coming, don’t know how though. Geoff was wondering if you’d come in again. He wants to try to find Burnie, make sure he’s okay and all.”

“I’m sure he’s not. I mean his crew was just obliterated, but yeah I’ll come in later today.”

“Thanks, Gav.” Gavin nodded. They walked downstairs together and said their goodbyes.

Ryan and Gavin walked to this place up the street Ryan knew about. They sat down in a booth and ordered their food. “So,” Gavin began, trying to speak so that only Ryan could hear him. “Why don’t we try to figure this out.”

“Okay.”

“Geoff hired you to take out CockBytes.”

“Yes, but we don’t know why,” Ryan stated. “He also apparently didn’t tell anyone in his crew.”

“Right, and then acted like he didn’t know what happened and sent his crew after you. Why, to act like he cares?”

“Well, he must care an awful lot to want his friend dea-” Ryan stated sarcastically, then paused as the waitress came with their food. Gavin was still even after she left and staring off into space. “Are you okay?” Ryan asked him.

“Yeah, I had an idea. So, Geoff wants me to go in later today to help them find Burnie. What if we went and found him first? Maybe see what he can tell us.”

“We could do that.”

\--

Five hours later, Gavin found himself walking into Geoff’s safe house alone. It was pretty tense in the warehouse, which given their current situation, was expected. He walked into Geoff’s office to say hello and get his orders. The conversation was brief between the two. Geoff was busy, and Gavin understood that, as he was about to be too.

As Gavin made his way over to his office, he said hello to a few familiar faces. He walked into the office and was greeted by Jon. “Hey,” he paused waiting for Gavin to sit down. “What are we doing today?”

“Geoff wants to find Burnie.” Jon seemed to think about that statement for a while.

“You know, that seems so easy in thought but is going be hard when actually doing it. I’m mean we’re looking for someone who doesn’t want to be found.” Gavin looked at him before replying.

“All you’ve really told me right now is what your job description is. You’ve found people who don’t want to be found so many times before, why does the situation we’re in make it any different?” Jon hesitated a lot before answering. Gavin sensed he was getting really nervous.

“I- I might know who hired the Mad Mercenary,” Jon said very slowly and very quietly.

“Yeah,” Gavin said confidently, looking back to his computer. “It was Geoff.”

“How do you know?” Jon exclaimed.

“How do you?”

“Geoff told me himself. He wanted me to keep an eye out for Burnie, but I lost him in the chaos. You?”

Gavin turned his head towards Jon again, and gave him a scheming smile. “The Mad Mercenary.” Jon replied with a wide eyed look of pure shock. And then Gavin started laughing. “You really believed that? Wow, no, god no. I heard it from the same person you did. Calm down.” He did and the two got back to work.

After they found where they thought Burnie was, they went to Geoff, as usual. Then Gavin left. He walked a few block up the road to meet Ryan. “How did it go on your end?” Gavin asked him upon arriving. Ryan was standing in an alley way, leaning on his bike.

“Good. He’s definitely there.”

“Well then, we better get going. We need to get there before Geoff and his crew do.” Ryan nodded. He turned around, got on his bike, and gave Gavin his helmet. Gavin put it on, and promptly got on behind Ryan, who then took off towards the city.

They were going fast. Faster than Gavin would have liked. He held on to Ryan as the man swayed them through passing vehicles, bringing them to the outer limits of the city. The two parked a few blocks away, at a spot that Ryan had picked out when he had been there earlier.

Gavin got off, and took his helmet off. He handed it to Ryan, who had gotten off after him. Ryan put the helmet away, and took out his mask. He lingered, looking at it, for a moment, then put it on. He turned to Gavin.

“Ready?”


	6. Chapter 6

It was strange for Gavin to see Ryan in his mask, again. It was about as strange as it was for Ryan to be wearing it. He hadn’t needed it, the past few days, being around Gavin. It had been better for him to not wear it at all, given the circumstance. But here he was, back at his job. Only this time, he had someone at his side. 

They walked side by side down the street, only gaining light when they walked into the vicinity of a street lamp. The two came to a ragged old house. Ryan stopped and turned towards it, Gavin followed him. He looked up at it, perplexed. “This is it?” Ryan only nodded in response and started walking up the steps towards the front door. “Wait,” Gavin stopped him. “So, is your plan to just walk in the front door?” 

Ryan shrugged, “Yeah pretty much.” He paused, looking towards Gavin. “He’s probably not expecting us, or maybe he is expecting something. But I don’t have a better plan for our situation, and we don’t have much time. We need to get in there and soon.” His eyes stay on Gavin as he walks up to the door.

“Okay then, ready?” Ryan nodded again, approaching the door, and reaching for his gun. Gavin went for the door, which he found was unlocked. He gave a look of concern which Ryan understood. He had been waiting. 

They walked in, Gavin behind Ryan with his mask and gun. The house was silent. It was almost eerie. Ryan leads them towards a faint light within the house. It leads them to an office. Ryan walks into the door way and stops. Burnie is sitting at a desk in front of him. Neither says anything. Ryan has his gun down, Burnie has one sitting on his desk. Neither has any intention of using them.

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” Burnie said flatly.

Ryan didn’t answer. 

“I assume you’ve come to finish your job. Then, I have one question before you do.”

Ryan nodded for him to continue.

“Who hired you to take out my crew?”

Ryan hesitated. He was going to answer him, given the chance, but Gavin cut him off as pushed past him to get into the room. 

“Gavin? You’re working with the Mad Mercenary?” he sneered. “Is this what you’ve been doing for the past few months while you were gone? Helping him? I’ve got to say it’s kind of bold for you.”

“No, that’s not why I’m- we’re here.” He paused. “It was Geoff. He’s the one who hired him.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. I think we both knew it would have to end like this someday, one of us going after the other. One of us wanting to control the entire city.” 

“But, if it is Geoff why would he be hunting him down now? This can’t just be about power.”

“Isn’t that what everything in this city is about? And if not that, money?” Burnie paused. The three heard someone trying to get into the house. Ryan turned to Gavin, with a look of concern in his eye. 

“They’re here,” he stated. “You should go.” Gavin looked up at him, solemnly, and nodded. He walked out of the room and hid elsewhere in the house where he could still hear what was going on. It was quiet for the longest time. 

“Oh, so are you two working together now?” It was Geoff. 

“No,” Burnie hissed, glaring at Geoff. “He came to warn me, about you.”

Geoff turned to Ryan. “What? Have you gone soft? I thought I paid you to kill him?” Ryan remained silent.

“Why? For the power,” Burnie demanded.

“No,” Geoff said, shaking his head. “It wasn’t just for the power.”

“Then what was it for?”

“Because I care about my people! They are my family.” 

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“What happened with Gavin last year, that was you! You hired the shooter!”

“Why would I do that? Gavin is like a-” Burnie began. 

“Because he doesn’t work for you anymore. He’s becoming your competition.”

Burnie stood up, picking up his gun and pointing it at Geoff. “Your little theory is wrong, Geoff. I don’t know who shot him, but it was certainly not me. I’d give anything to help you find out who it was.”

Geoff took his gun out. “I wish I could believe you,” he said. Bang!

It was Ryan who fired first, towards Geoff, missing intentionally. Bang! Then Burnie, allowing the mercenary to get away. Bang! Ryan again. They ran out the door way Gavin had exited from to meet up with him. Geoff followed them and started shooting down the corridor, but was found he was too late because the three had run out a side door. He ran out to follow them, the other members of the crew following behind him. 

“Follow me,” Burnie shouted, “I have a car around the corner.”

The three ran, watching over their shoulders for Fake AH members. They turned a street corner, and Burnie slowed down as the approached the car, the other two following suit. As they got into the car, three crew members came running around the corner. Ryan pushed Gavin into the car and took shelter behind the entryway to a nearby building as he and Burnie turned to start shooting toward the crew members. 

“Get the car started!” Ryan yelled gruffly to Burnie. “I’ve got this.”

Burnie nodded, getting into the car. When Ryan heard the car turn on, he ran to get in the car with shots being fired as he ran, shutting the door as Burnie took off. They heard a few shots ring by as they drove away. 

“Where are we going?” Gavin asked as they drove. 

“We could go back to one of the safe houses,” Ryan offered.

Burnie shook his head, “No, they knew you were there with me. They would suspect that.”

“Not if it’s not one they know about. We only know about three.”

“We? You’ve been working for Geoff again? I thought you were done working for him after…”

“Yeah, I was,” Gavin interrupted him. “But I started working for him again when they started looking for Ry- the Mad Mercenary. Anyways, they only know about three, for the time being. We could go to another one until we have a better plan.” 

The other two men nodded in agreement. Gavin and Ryan decided what the best place to stay was. Something that was close, but still sort of away from the city. They decided on a house Ryan owned that was on the outskirts of the city.

The drive after this was fairly silent, except Ryan providing directions to Burnie. It was because of this, though it was rather short, the drive seemed to drag on longer. 

When they arrived at the house, Ryan shuffled out of the backseat of the car to open the garage door with a keypad that was on the side of the garage doorway. As Burnie pulled the car into the garage, Ryan went to unlock the door. 

“It’s late,” Ryan started, as he let the other two men in. “Why don’t we take a break, get some sleep, before we start working.” He took off his mask, face still being covered by paint, and held it in his hand as he led them back into the house. He walked over to a desk that sat in the corner of the dining room, placed the mask there, and turned to face the other two men. The room was small, only holding the desk and a small, round dining table in the center of the room. “There are a couple rooms upstairs and coffee in the kitchen.” 

Gavin and Burnie nodded, both looking exhausted and turned to go their separate ways. Burnie to the stairs to go up to sleep and Gavin to the kitchen to make coffee. Ryan unzipped his jacket and took it off, placing it on the back of one of the dining table chairs.

Gavin looked over at him from a window that separated the two rooms. “Ryan!” he exclaimed, seeing fresh blood on the over man shirt sleeve. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“It’s fine,” Ryan shot back. “It’s not like I haven’t had worse. I was just gonna patch it up when we got here.” He walked over to a room that was by the hallway they had come in from.   
Gavin followed him into the room to reveal a bathroom. “At least let me help you.”

“I can do this. I’ve had plenty of practice from working alone.”

“But you’re not alone anymore. Please, just let me help you.” 

Ryan nodded and handed over the medical kit he had retrieved from the bathroom cupboard. He pulled his shirt off without even grimacing from the pain, even as Gavin started to pull the bullet that was lodged in his arm out. “So,” Ryan paused. “Can I ask about what Geoff and Burnie were arguing over?” Another pause, he could hear Gavin sigh but continue working on his arm. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, it’s okay.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I-I used to work for Geoff. Mostly, just computer stuff, tracking people, hacking, and whatnot. I was good in the field, but much better at tracking. I usually didn’t go out into the field with them because of this. Last year, they were taking on a particularly difficult adversary and needed everyone out helping.”

“Yeah, I remember that. Geoff had hired other mercenaries in the city. I was already on a job otherwise I’d have been there.”

Gavin nodded, and paused, momentarily, focusing on hands working. He continued, his voice beginning to shake, “we went out ambushed the other crew’s warehouse. As we were walking in, there was a sniper on the roof who shot me. Geoff had men append him while they took on the crew. 

“After, he interrogated the sniper. He had been hired by someone else, he wasn’t with the rival crew, but wouldn’t say who hired him. I don’t know how, or why, Geoff thought it was Burnie, but I know it wasn’t him. I’ve known him too long for it to be true.”

Gavin finished bandaging up Ryan’s arm. Grabbing the utensils he had used, he began cleaning up his work space. Ryan got up from his chair and trudged over to the bathroom to clean off his face paint. “Then I guess the question is, who did.”

Gavin gave him a half shrug, having followed him to the bathroom and now leaning on the door frame. “I don’t know. I’ve spent long enough not knowing that I don’t want to know. If my life is not endangered by them now, then I don’t want to worry about.”

Ryan stopped to look up at Gavin. The man was straight faced and droopy-eyed, obviously tired. “It may not be now, but what if they come back?” 

“They’ve had plenty of time to do it, but they haven’t. So, like I said, I’m not gonna worry about it. I don’t really care anymore.” 

By now, Ryan had finished cleaning his face. He turned to Gavin again and gave him a quick nod with an ‘okay’ attached to it. “We should get some sleep,” he insisted. Gavin nodded, and without another word, he turned and went up the stairs, Ryan a few steps behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry this took so long... I really didn't mean for it to be so long of a wait, but I was moving house and got caught up in that and working a lot. Anyways, I do plan to finish this series (and am overly sorry about the gap between chapters 5 and 6, thanks to anyone who stuck around!) I'm planning for it to be three parts, two multi-chaptered fics and a one-shot. 
> 
> Anyways, I am actually out of school now and have a lot more time to write! I will (hopefully) update more regularly. I'm trying to get on a schedule, but my work schedule isn't always the same and my productivity often stems from that so... Updates will be more often, but not on a schedule, yet.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading, and enjoy!

The house was cold the next morning when Ryan woke up, the sun streaming into his room. He sat up and swung his legs off the bed. Rubbing his hands up his face and into his hair, he sighed remembering the events of the night before.

  
Ryan got up from his bed and grabbed some clothing from his closet, putting them on. Life was so much easier before Los Santos, he thinks. And it’s true. His life hadn’t been like this, he hadn’t had a name for himself. It was only upon coming here for a job that he became the ‘Mad Mercenary.’

  
The job had gone wrong, to say the least. The crew he had been hired to help were trying to take out an adversary that was from the area. They had sent a few people with Ryan, and whilst they were out on a raid one night they were taken and killed. The leader had called off the job after that.

  
Ryan had worked with these people before. He had grown quite fond of them. He wanted to avenge their deaths. The people they were trying to act against were not good people, so he didn’t hold himself back.

  
The next morning when he woke up, he was on the news. They had coined his name, and he had sort of liked. After that, he decided to stay in Los Santos mostly. He took jobs outside of the city with people he had worked with before, but he had started to call Los Santos home, that wasn’t a place he had had for a long time.  
\--  
Ryan finished getting dressed, not bothering to put on face paint, and walked downstairs to find Burnie sitting at the kitchen table, musing over a cup of coffee. He poured himself a cup and goes to sit at the table opposite Burnie.

  
“So, you Gavin have known each other for a while,” he questioned.

  
“Yeah, we met when he first came here from England. He had worked with a friend of mine who was there on a job. He came highly recommended. He worked with my crew for a while and went to help Geoff on a job and decided to stay.”

  
“H-he told me what happened last year-“ Ryan stopped, Burnie interrupting him.

  
“That wasn’t me. I don’t know why Geoff thought that but-“

  
“No, I know, Gavin said the same thing last night.” Ryan pauses. “When I was hired by Geoff, he hadn’t said why he wanted this.”

  
“It’s fine. I’m not angry with you. You were just doing your job. It seems like he’s fucked you over with this too. But Geoff? I’m furious with him. I just- I don’t understand why he would have done this.”  
Gavin walked into the kitchen while they are talked to hear the end of the conversation. “None of this adds up,” he adds. “He wouldn’t have done this on his own he’d have had someone telling him to do it or something.”

  
“Who would have told Geoff that it was Burnie?” Ryan asked. “We know he did investigate what had happened. He said last night that he cares for his crew. I highly doubt he would have just let it go like that.”

 

“If he did, then he would have obviously been misinformed and probably from someone in his own crew or at least a close ally of his,” Gavin replied.

  
“They’d have to be like a double agent, then, working for someone else behind his back. However, it’d also have to be someone who’s been in or around his crew for a long time and someone that he trusts,” Burnie adds.

  
“What if it wasn’t, though.” Ryan and Burnie both give Gavin quizzical looks before he can continue. “I mean, there might be someone hidden in the crew like that but what it’s bigger than this. Burnie, when was the last time you saw Geoff?”

  
“I don’t know maybe a couple weeks ago, we got together with some old friends.”

  
“Did he seem off to you at all.”

  
“I mean we didn’t really talk, he kinda stayed away from me and seems a little distracted if I remember right. I guess you could call that off, yeah.”

  
“Where are you going with this Gavin,” Ryan asked.

  
“Geoff was alone when he hired you, and no one from the crew knew who hired you. Geoff’s not like that, he would have at least told Jack or something. He doesn’t keep secrets from his crew. Then when he came last night, he was alone again. He brought his people but he had them wait outside and they were only there when things went haywire. He’s also trying to make it look like he wasn’t the one who took the hit out on Burnie’s crew. What if he’s not the one giving the orders for once?”

  
“So, you’re saying he’s working for someone else behind everyone’s back,” Burnie questions.

  
“Sort of, I was thinking more like blackmail or something.”

  
“Okay, but Geoff is the leader of one of the most successful crews in this city, how would you even get him to do should like this.”

  
“His crew like family. He’d do anything for them, but whoever is behind this must also have people hidden in the crew, double agents like you said.”

  
“Whoever orchestrated this has to be pretty powerful,” Ryan says and the room fell silent as everyone took this in.

  
“Okay well… I’m gonna go,” Burnie starts, interrupting the silence.

  
“Where,” Gavin asked.

  
“I don’t know… out of the city at least. I was thinking about hanging out in California for a bit, maybe out the country for a bit, I think Australia is nice this time of year.” He stood up and walked half-full cup of coffee to the sink.

  
“But what about this mess with Geoff? You can’t just leave,” he exclaimed.

  
“Hey, if he or whoever wants me gone, I’ll go.” He walked back over to his chair, grabbed his jacket, and put it on.

  
“You’re gonna give up just like that?”

  
“Hey, I never said that I wouldn’t be back.” Burnie walked out the door, without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last of Burnie we will see for a while!
> 
> Also, I cut this chapter in half so there will be another update this week! I don't when exactly but before Saturday ends it will be up! I'm just impatient and couldn't just have this part sitting in my Word document. 
> 
> Thanks again!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Talk of death/dying, suicidal thoughts
> 
>  
> 
> I will add trigger warnings to chapters as needed.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading!

The two stared at the door in awe. “I-I can’t believe he would just leave. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him back out of a fight like that,” Gavin stated.

“I mean it’s not really a fight for him. We don’t know what we are up against and he’s alone.”

“He’s not alone, he has us.”

“Yeah, but the three of us are nothing matched to Geoff and his crew or, apparently, anyone who might be controlling him. I know the way these people work, and we just can’t do it. It’d be nearly impossible. It would be better to just stay out of their way.”

“So, what are we going to do,” Gavin asked.

Ryan shrugged, shaking his head. “I don’t know.”

“For now, I guess we can go back to mine and make a better plan.”

Ryan nodded, “I have another bike in the garage, we can take that.”

The two cleaned up their mugs and grab their belongings, Ryan stuffing his mask into his jacket pocket. Ryan led them out to the garage to his bike which is covered up with a tarp. Ryan pulled it off, set it on the ground near the bike, and then wheeled the bike out of its position by the wall to get out it. Gavin got on behind him and Ryan took off. 

It was late morning by the time they got back into the city. Gavin remained steady on the bike behind, unlike the night before, because unmasked in the daylight Ryan actually obeyed traffic laws. When stopped at lights, they made small talk, like Gavin asking Ryan things he’d do for a million dollars. They were laughing about it and how Ryan thought it was stupid when they walked up to Gavin’s apartment. 

When they got to his apartment, Lindsay was standing outside. She turned, having heard them coming up the stairs and their laughter died. 

“Lindsay,” Gavin exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been calling you all morning.”

“Oh, sorry, w-we went to go get breakfast and I forgot my phone. What did you need?”

“I, ah, talk to you about last night, but uh, if you’re busy,” she breaks off looking over towards Ryan. 

“We were just gonna watch a movie,” Gavin said, trying to come up with a better reason for why he and Ryan were together.

“Yeah, The Matrix. Gavin thinks it’s stupid that I’m an actor who wasn’t seen it,” Ryan adds.

“You’re an actor,” Lindsay questions.

“Yeah, theater mostly but I’ve done some films.”

“That’s cool.”

“So, why don’t we go inside, Lindsay, you and I can talk really quick about last night, and then, Ryan, we can start the movie,” Gavin buds in. The other two nod and Gavin moves to unlock his door. Gavin lead Lindsay into his kitchen while Ryan stayed behind in his living room, taking his jacket off an placing it on the back of a chair that sat by the door. 

“So, what happened with Burnie last night,” Gavin asked, trying to keep his voice low. 

“Geoff said he was taking it a well as anyone could, but that’s not why I’m here. The Mad Mercenary was there too.”

“Really? Why?”

Lindsay shrugged, “Geoff went in alone. He was in there for maybe five minutes and the rest of us heard shooting and went in. They were running together and it looked like there was a third person, but we couldn’t make out who it was.”

“So, does Geoff think Burnie is working with the Mad Mercenary now?”

“I mean that’s the way it looks, doesn’t? We still have to figure out why and who the third person was but…” she trailed off with a shrug. “Anyways, I just thought you’d want to be updated with what happened.” Lindsay started making her way to the door. 

“Yeah, thanks. Let me know if you need me to come down again,” Gavin replied, following her. 

She nodded, having stopped when she reached the door. Lindsay’s eyes wander down to the jacket that sat on the back of the chair before her, as something had caught her eye. Stick out from the jacket was a gray mask that looked to resemble a skull. The Mad Mercenary’s mask. 

She looked up, over to Gavin, and from Gavin to Ryan. As she reached to grab her gun, Gavin understood. 

“Oh, shit,” he said, under his breath. Ryan stood up from his place on the couch. “Lindsay, this isn’t what it looks like.”

“What that you new neighbor here is the Mad Mercenary? Because that’s what it looks like. So please, explain.”

“Well, for starters he’s not my neighbor.”

“So, you lied? You know who he was and you didn’t say anything?”

“It- it’s not that easy,” Gavin stammered. 

“Then, explain.”

“I- we can’t, not yet.”

Lindsay shook her head as she opened the door. “I just- I don’t understand,” she stated and started walking out.

“Lindsay,” Gavin called, walking out after her, but it was too late. She was gone. 

Gavin stayed by the door, cursing under his breath before turning around to face Ryan. “We need to get out of here.” He walked towards his bedroom to grab a few things. 

“What? Why?” Ryan started following him around. 

“She could go to Geoff. If she does, he could come here, he would kill you.” Gavin stopped what he was doing, and looked up at Ryan, “I can’t let that happen. We’re leaving.” There was a silence in the room for a moment as Gavin went back to work. 

“I’m not running,” Ryan said. “I’ve spent my whole life hiding from people like him, and at the same time doing their bidding and killing for them. Now, they’re trying to kill me. I’m not going to run from it.” 

Gavin stopped again. “I’m not letting you die, Ryan. If that means running, then that’s what we’ll do. You can’t take on an entire crew by yourself. Let’s go.” 

“Why do you care so much? I’ve killed a lot of people. Hell, I almost killed you. I’ve done a lot of bad things, I don’t deserve to live. So, why do you care so much that I do?” 

“’Almost’.” 

“What?” 

“You ‘almost’ killed me, but you didn’t. If you had, we wouldn’t be here right now. But we are, and that’s wonderful because we can go and live or we can stay and die. I’m asking you to live. What you’ve done doesn’t make you a bad person because it’s what you needed to do to survive. Survival is everything in this city. So, come with me, run and survive. Even, if it’s only until we’ve got a better plan.”   
Ryan studied him for a moment, remaining silent. “Okay.” Gavin smiled and walked out to his desk. He opened one of the drawers and grabbed the gun he had hidden away in it. He stopped and looked at the gun. 

“That’s it,” he exclaimed. 

“What?”

“What if we faked our deaths?” Gavin saw Ryan about to protest and stopped him, “I mean like lead the Fake AH crew to some warehouse that we’re in, blow it up, and pay off a medical examiner to give them a positive ID on the charred remains of bodies found in the building. Then move to a new city and live. Well, sort of.” 

Ryan stared at Gavin, thinking over what he had just said. “That might work.” He paused. “You do know you don’t have to come with me, right? You have a life here, friends, maybe even family, who care about you.” 

“After what just happened I’m pretty sure they are gonna think we are already working together. The day we met, I was ready to die, but you, letting me live, got me here. I’m going with you because I trust you and because I want to start a new life. Okay?” 

Ryan smiled and nodded. “We should probably get out of here.” 

Gavin followed Ryan down to his bike. He gave Gavin his helmet and got on. Gavin followed him, got on and wrapped his arms around Ryan, who then started the bike and drove them through the city to his apartment.


	9. Chapter 9

Ryan had always hated this part of his job. The planning, the recon, anything that didn’t have to do with the lead up to the actual job, he hated it. He could tell that Gavin, however, loved it. It was like he was in his natural habitat.

Ryan knew that this is what Gavin had done for Geoff and Burnie. He had, also, met people who had done the same for other crews but none of them whereas focused or motivated as Gavin. _Does he really care about helping me get out of here? Or is it because he has personal ties to this?_ He thought and hoped it was the former.

As Gavin worked, Ryan sat by him and listened as he explained what he was doing, giving his input when needed. He let Gavin take the lead because it felt comfortable to him. It felt right. He knew he would have never gotten this far without the other man.

As the sun outside faded and the night drew in, Ryan found it nearly impossible to coax the other man away from his work. “I am almost done,” Gavin insisted when Ryan suggested they stop for the night. It was late, and they had both had a long day and an early morning. Ryan let him finish but ordered dinner for the two. Pizza from a place near his apartment that he swore was the best.

When it arrived, Ryan told the other man, to which he replied, “I am almost done, go eat without me. I’ll be there soon.”

“You sure?” Gavin nodded and went back to work.

Ryan’s third attempt came an hour after that. He had eaten alone, and Gavin had not joined him. He walked into the other room where the man was. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Gavin replied, not looking up from his work.

“You should come and eat. The pizza is getting cold.”

“I will soon. I am almost done.”

“You said that two hours ago,” Ryan started. Gavin stopped and looked up at him. “Look, I know you are determined to finish this, but it’s been a long day and you haven’t eaten since breakfast. Take a break, even if it is just to eat. Please.”

Gavin remained silent for the longest time before replying with an “okay.” He stood up and followed Ryan into his kitchen. Gavin grabs a couple of slices of the pizza before sitting down at the table in the room across from Ryan. They sit silently for a while, while Gavin eats. It’s an awkward silence before Ryan breaks it.

“The night we meet you didn’t seem scared of me. Can I ask?” Gavin nodded. “Why?”

Gavin sighed. “I told you before, I was ready to die.” Ryan tried to say something, but Gavin stopped him before he could. “No, don’t worry. It’s not like that. It’s just-.” He paused, trying to find the right thing to say. “I feel like in this line of work, in this city, it is only a matter of time before you end up dead. I’ve already defeated it once. I guess it wasn’t that I wanted to try my luck, but...” He trailed off with a shrug. “Maybe it was just weakness seeping in.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone before you who wasn’t afraid of me,” Ryan replied, trying to reassure him. “I guess it’s not really me they are afraid of, in a way. It’s the mask and the legend, and they usually run away. When you saw me that day, you ran towards it. I had never seen that before.”

“Is that why you didn’t shoot me?”

Ryan nodded. “Mostly.”

“Mostly,” Gavin repeated to himself.

“You know, maybe you are stronger than you think.”

“Really? How so?” Gavin inquires with a smile.

“You said that in this city it is only a matter of time before we all die. Most people are scared of that,” Ryan said his voice low and soft. Gavin’s eyes fall into Ryan’s as he speaks, mesmerized by the other man’s words. His smile falls halfway. “But you, you understand that and accept it. You’ve even beaten it. Not many people can say that they have beaten fear and death.”

Gavin’s smile grows again and his eyes drift down to his now empty plate. He stood up to take care of it before headed back to go and work. Ryan stands with him. As the other man passes him, after having taken care of his plate, Ryan impulsively grabbed hold of his arm and pulled Gavin into himself. Ryan uses his free hand to lift Gavin’s chin up and presses their lips together.

The moment is full of apprehension, but neither pull away at first. Ryan can feel Gavin melt into him. It is only then that he realizes what he is doing.

He pulled away fast.

“I’m sorry,” Ryan said, eyes wide, shaking his head back and forth a few times before running a hand thru his hair. “I shouldn’t-“

Gavin stopped him, shaking his head, too. “Don’t be sorry.”

Ryan sighed as he looked to the floor. “Maybe, but I-I don’t think we should do this. Not right now, anyway.”

Gavin nodded his head fast and curtly. “Yeah, you’re right.” He paused for a moment, a very silent, awkward moment. “I’m gonna go to use the bathroom and then we can finish up. We are almost done.”

Gavin walked to the bathroom, pulled his phone out, and turned it on. He had had it turned off since they left his apartment. He sees he had three missed calls and voicemails to match. All of which were from Lindsay.

He listens to them and she sounds… concerned. She has questions of course. He knew she would. Mainly, she had said, she wanted to know the truth. Why was he working with the mercenary? He hadn’t been able to explain it to her before and now, she was giving him the chance. He was not a to give it up.


End file.
